I have been waiting for this day since we returned to Michigan. I drank my morning coffee as the sun was coming up to a cloudless day. The sky was crystal clear blue and the air was still so I put on my new walking shoes, winter coat, pulled a red hat down over my hair and ears, and put on my red gloves. I grabbed my camera and was off.

I didn’t know how cold it was but knew it was cold because my eyes watered and burned and my nose got really cold. I later learned that it was 20 degrees F but I didn’t care because I was out to explore a new path that I saw yesterday when I went through the neighborhood in the opposite direction. I have been walking this neighborhood for four years and never noticed it.

That little sign on the left says something about no hunting or trespassing. It didn’t stop me – I figure that at my age and with a camera around my neck I could talk my way out of any mess I get myself into. The beginning of the path is like a drive – it goes between the houses that face the street and some houses that are built way back from the road with other drives.

I’m not sure what the purpose of this path is but the walking was easy and the first thing I noticed was fresh deer tracks in sandy soil – unusual for here because we have lots of heavy clay.

The walking was easy because of moss underfoot…

Until…

This was the end of the groomed trail but I easily climbed over this and found all kinds of delights as I walked on down the path.

The walking became more difficult as I had to watch for fallen limbs among the leaves. I finally came to a point where there wasn’t a trail and the walking was too hard so I turned around. On the way back, the sun was high enough to cast beautiful shadows across a mossy lane that seemed to go to the back of someone’s home.

I hated to reach the road and leave this natural trail and all its treasures for the well-manicured lawns of the neighborhood. But there were other treasures to photograph and I’ll share those on another day.

I was taking a few last shots in my yard when my camera stopped working – the memory card was full. I had been gone 2 hours and had taken 275 photos. What a fun way to spend a late November morning.